For the Summer
by VerityR
Summary: Gon was just a boy he spent a summer with. Or at least, that's what Killua tried to convince himself, until they meet again.
1. Candy Stripe

"What colors do you want on your bracelet, Killua?"

Why did Gon have to say his name like that? It was weird. Killua tried to hide his discomfort, busying himself by studying the bracelet-making instructions Bisky had so carefully written out. A task made difficult when Gon started leaning on him, arms around his shoulders, craning to get a better look. It wasn't that he minded the contact, but it kept taking him by surprise, put him on edge. Maybe this is how friends always were with each other, he thought, eyes quickly darting around the room to see how the other pairs were getting along. Some of the kids had arms already stacked with fraying, sun-faded bracelets, obvious remnants of summers past. He was already so far behind.

"Killua…" Gon's voice stirred him from his investigation, which wasn't too embarrassing or anything.

Killua chewed his lip as he tried to refocus on Gon's question. "Uhh…"

It was probably completely evident he had no idea what friends did.

"Can I have blue?" Killua asked finally. God, he couldn't even answer a stupid question without totally freaking out. Not that Gon had seemed bothered by it or anything, but still.

"Duhhh." Gon said, pulling one of those plastic boxes from his backpack. From Killua's cursory observations, it seemed a pretty ubiquitous accessory for holding string. Everyone had come prepared but him, it seemed.

"How am I supposed to know what you have… Let me see that!"

Gon placed the container in Killua's hand, their fingers brushing for a half of a second. Killua popped open the lid, resolving to ignore the signals his body was putting out at the brief contact. And there was certainly enough there to distract him. The box was portioned into tons of little sections, each one filled to the brim with a rainbow of color, individual strands snaking their way free. The effect was a happy, bright sort of mess. It was sort of impressive, actually, especially in comparison to the basic primary colors the counselors had supplied.

"Jeez, I thought you said you didn't know how to make a bracelet. Why do you have this all stuff anyway? Isn't this kind of girly?"

Gon shrugged, nonplussed. "It's my Aunt Mito's, from when she was little." he paused, then said, thoughtfully, "Is it girly? Hmm. I don't think I really care anyway. I mean, look how pretty!"

He was holding up silvery thread, metallic and thicker than the rest. Killua's eyes lit up, imagining what a bracelet made out of that would look like.

"You want this one, Killua? Unless you want to use it for mine, I guess. But, hm, I think this one should be yours. It kind of matches you, see?"

It matched him? But… Gon had just called it pretty. He was so weird. Couldn't even compliment people normal. Boys aren't supposed to be… that's probably not even what he had meant. Gon was just being nice, was all. Offering up the good stuff was probably another friend thing he didn't know about.

"But that's your nicest one! Don't waste it on me, dummy." Killua scoffed.

"I won't be wasting it!" he protested indignantly. "You're the dumb one. What other colors do you want?"

Ugh, his face was so hot. Why was it so stupid hot in the craft room? And jeez, Gon was bossy. Dictating even the color strings in Killua's bracelet. Or maybe, which might be more worrisome, Killua was just a big pushover. He sighed.

"The black? The light blue. And, ah, the darkish purple-blue one."

Gon got right to work, wrapping each color around his forearm three times to which was, according to the instructions, an estimate wrist size. He ripped them with his teeth, being weird and wild self, then made a knot. Despite himself, Killua was kind of getting into the idea of it now. If he was going to have to wear a dumb friendship bracelet, it might as well be the coolest one. Gon was sticking the string in his mouth again now, using his teeth the hold the knot steady while his fingers started working out the pattern.

"Y-you, ah, didn't tell me which colors you want," Killua said quickly, realizing he had kind of been staring.

"Oh yeah!" Gon said, mouth full of string. "Green."

"You're supposed to tape them to the table, not put them in your mouth, weirdo."

Gon ignored him, face screwed up in concentration as he looped and knotted the strings around. He was going kind of cross-eyed trying to see was he was doing. Killua rolled his eyes. So dumb. Couldn't Gon just do it the way he was supposed to in the first place? But whatever, he had a bracelet of his own to make. He dug into the box, deliberately carefully between the several green shades, landing on a dark foresty one.

"Hm. Okay, green. What else?"

"Oh, just green!" came the answer through clenched teeth.

"But you're not supposed to do one color! It's a four-string pattern! Don't you want it to look cool?"

Gon shrugged in response, and spit out the beginnings of the bracelet, apparently having given up on using his teeth. Instead, he was pinning it to the table with the blade of the scissors he had neglected earlier. The bracelet now secured, albeit a little recklessly, he elaborated.

"I'm sure it'll look cool if Killua makes it. Get started already, or I'm gonna be done with, like, five of 'em before you've even done one row."

The challenge distracted Killua from being too embarrassed that Gon had called him cool. Because that's what he had been insinuating, yeah? Not that it mattered. He got started, quickly and precisely making his knot, laying out identical green strands. Killua could beat anyone at anything. Even at making lame friendship bracelets.


	2. Sun Salutation

"Time to wake up!"

Killua's eyes blinked open slowly, heavy with sleep. Couldn't tell where that voice was coming from. Huh. Might as well go… back… to…

"Get up get up get up!"

Killua woke again, startled. Why was this disembodied voice being so annoy- Gon. Of course he couldn't see him. Killua had staked his claim on the top bunk, after all. It was just taking a while to get used to.

"Mrhmpmff." Not his best diversion tactic, perhaps, but it was all he could manage given his current state of exhaustion. Being a counselor was making him a little guilty for how annoying he had been as a camper. Where were these kids getting the energy to be running around all the time? And keeping up with Gon's insane work-out schedule wasn't exactly helping. As admittedly fun as his first week had been, Killua was in dire need of some rest.

"Killuaaaa! We have work to do! Don't make me drag you out of bed."

"Tch. As if you could. Besides, it's a _Saturday_ , ass. We don't have anything until noon. And I _fully_ intend," Killua said, throwing his blanket over his head, "to take advantage of that."

"Mmmm… Did I forget to tell you?"

"Tell me what? Also, fuck off."

"I miiiiight have signed us up to, uh, lead the morning hike."

Killua peaked out from under his blanket to see Gon grinning smugly. He was beat, and Gon knew it.

"You dick. You _so_ did that on purpose." Killua sighed, finally shuffling down the ladder in defeat.

"Did what on purpose, Killua?" Gon asked innocently, his tone and wide eyes contrasting with his body language, bouncing on his toes and clutching fast at the straps of his backpack. As if that fake act was going to work on him… Although, if Gon really had put his name down, he kind of had to show up. This whole "job" thing was proving to be pretty annoying.

"You know," said Killua, grabbing pants from off the floor, "you could have just _asked_ if I wanted to go for a hike. At ass o' clock in the morning. On our day off."

"But you would have said nooooo." Gon protested, holding out Killua's uniform shirt.

"Wow, you think?" Killua grumbled, taking the shirt and pulling it over his head.

"It's gonna be fun!"

Killua scoffed, sitting on Gon's bed to lace up his shoes. Gon was practically buzzing with energy, humming and fidgeting as Killua scrambled to get ready.

"I put chocolate in the trail mix this time!" said Gon brightly as they left their cabin, apparently attempting to psych him up. Although Killua appreciated the effort (and the promise of chocolate), no one had any business being that happy before the sun had even come up.

"Trail mix without chocolate is just, like, pointless."

Gon sighed, as if he had any business being the exasperated one. "Granola is good for you, Killua."

"Hmm. I read somewhere sleep is supposed to be good for you too."

"Well! Now you're just being a jerk!" Gon stuck out his tongue, his habitual childhood insult, which apparently had stuck.

"Me, a jerk? I'm not the one who- "

"A lover's quarrel, this early in the day? Pace yourself, boys." A familiar voice had crept up behind them, unnoticed.

"F-fuck off, Leorio." Killua's felt a blush creeping up around his neck, hoping the profanity would be enough to disguise his embarrassment. Although he wasn't sure if he was more annoyed by the implication, or the realization that he had been to distracted to notice the newcomer.

"Well, good morning to you too, brat. You should respect your senior counselors, you know," said Leorio, goadingly. Leorio had to be looming over them on purpose, Killua was certain. What business did he having being so damn tall anyway?

"Senior counselor?" Killua sneered, "You're sure you don't mean senior _citizen_?"

"Why you- "

"Good morning, Gon," sighed Kurapika, walking up from behind Leorio, silencing him with a stern stare. Older than him and Gon, but not as old as Leorio, Kurapika was one of the few counselors who hadn't once been a camper himself. Despite that, or maybe because of it, Kurapika took the job way seriously. And judging from the presence of a clipboard, he was in charge of this particular outing.

"I gather you two are joining us as hike leaders?"

"Unfortunately." Killua said, under his breath, mostly for Gon's sake. Just a little guilt trip, was all. Kurapika, however, was not amused, stopping in his tracks rather cartoonishly, raising an eyebrow from behind the clipboard.

" _Excuse_ me?"

Killua, bristling at a tone he took to be condescending, ignored Kurapika, and began zipping open Gon's backpack in search of the aforementioned trail mix.

"Oh, Killua's just joking," chimed Gon, smiling even as he snatched his bag away, "Too bad he's not funny! Aaaand, too bad he's not getting any trail mix later."

"Tch! How is that fair! He wakes me up," Killua reached for the bag again, but was skillfully evaded by Gon, "and doesn't even bother feeding me."

If anyone could sound threatening while clearing his throat, it was Kurapika, growing more indignant by the second. He looked towards Leorio for back-up, only to realize his fellow senior counselor was now in possession of the backpack, tossing just out of Killua's reach and back to Gon, making for a rather ridiculous game of monkey-in-the-middle.

"As I was _going_ to say, this is, of course an elective activity- "

Killua snorted. "For some of us, maybe."

" _And_ as an elective activity, we'll just be responsible for whichever campers show up at the flagpole by approximately," - Kurapika glanced at his watch- "Well, approximately by now. So, I'll just check off who's here," - Killua had gained possession of the bag, snatching it midair- "We'll go down the demarcated blue trail," –now Gon was tackling him- "by 7:30 we should be at the best location to watch the sunrise and- _for the love of all that is holy, Killua, give Gon back his bag._ "

Killua and Gon looked up, limbs entangled at some frankly improbable angles- much to the amusement of the campers, tittering with giggles as they crowded around the meeting place.

"They simply do not pay me enough for this."

"Now, that's what I'm always saying," said Leorio, in between bites of an apple that was, more likely than not, swiped from Gon's bag.

Kurapika snatched the apple away. "Now _children_ ," he said, addressing both the gathered campers and the other counselors with a meaningful glare, "it's time to go." With a crunch of the apple, pivoted and began to walk off in the direction of the near-by trail.

Leorio turned to Killua and Gon as they gathered themselves, looking not too much worse for the wear.

"And he thinks _we're_ the dramatic ones."

The hike itself was less than grueling, especially in light of the runs Gon had been forcing him to go on lately. It wasn't that Killua disliked running- far from it. He had even helped cinch their Color War victory by winning the sprint in their own camp days. He was fast. But a symptom of that speed was impatience. Killua much preferred to be able to exert all his energy in one dash, rather than sustain running for a boring amount of time. Especially when all that running took place in a heat-fluctuating, dirty, sprained-ankle inducing place like a fucking forest. Oh, how Killua longed for his old friend, the reliable treadmill, on his third hour jogging in a jungly wasteland that smelled like skunk. Or at least, he hoped it was skunk. While Killua didn't mind working hard or exercising diligently, he preferred to do so in the sanitary, controllable world of gyms. At the gym, you never get a stupid sunburn that turns your skin an electric pink and makes it impossible to sleep on your back. But, regrettably, the camp's many facilities, among them an archery range, a lake, and a tennis court, did not include a gym. Gon had brought his own free weights, like the fucking meathead he was, but he refused to skimp on cardio. Cardio that, more often than not, earned Killua lectures on how it was a "deciduous forest" not a "jungle" and a "millipede" not a "slimy, disgusting bug _please get it off of me_ ". But, after a week of going for runs every afternoon after the campers were at dinner and out of their hands, Killua was getting weirdly used to it all. And maybe even looking forward to it, though he wasn't quite ready to admit that. Even enjoying the way his muscled ached the morning after, knowing it was evidence of the work they had done together. So yes, the hike, while unbearably early, was not so bad, physically.

Except, as always, for the presence of kids. Now, Killua didn't hate kids anymore than he hated running. Some of them he even liked. Mostly his sister. Okay, maybe just his sister. But really, was it his fault they asked so many damn questions? And why did they have such tiny, sticky hands? Killua was almost certain he had never been that tiny nor that sticky. When Killua had broached the topic with Gon, wondering if he was just some kind of kid-hating sociopath, Gon had just shrugged, saying he "liked people, mostly", which, of course, was such a Gon answer to give. Although Killua had been a little worried that he would be able to watch anybody at all, their job so far hadn't proved a difficult one, consisting mostly supervising matches of kickball, leading orderly lines too and from activities, and taking kids to the bathroom. Usually activities had built in buffers, in the form of the specialist counselors like Bisky, in charge of arts and crafts, and Razor, the athletic supervisor. But only around half a dozen kids had shown up to this hike, making the amount of one-on-one chatter way out of Killua's comfort zone. The older kids hovered around Leorio, who they seemed to consider cool, for some unfathomable reason. Killua guessed they had gone to camp with Leorio, and were now in awe of his position of (relative) power. Kurapika was out in front, walking by himself, some other lone wolves trailing behind. Two kids from their own group, which consisted of boys going into the sixth grade, were bobbing excitedly around Gon, who they knew from experience was much more likely to humor them.

"Gon! Gon! How long 'til we're there?" asked one of them, Kurt, Killua thought his name was.

"Are you going to do anything for the talent show?" said Zushi, the other one.

Gon answered each of them patiently and cheerily, listening attentively as they launched into bizarre anecdotes of pre-adolescent boy life. Killua, walking hands in his pockets, slowed his pace to fall slightly behind them, doing his best to tune them out.

"-can do, see? Look!"

" _totally_ gross but he did it for, like- "

"you ever? I heard it pops out for- "

"and then it splattered and made this weird-"

"How did you get so good at making these?"

One of the stray bits of conversation made it's way into Killua's head, unbidden.

"Hm? Making what."

"These!" Zushi tugged on the bundle of lanyards and bracelets that hung off Gon's backpack.

"Oh! Like, bracelets and stuff? A lot of these other people gave me. I did make this one, though," said Gon, gesturing to what Killua could see was a cobra-pattern lanyard.

"I can't do those at all! They just turn into big, ugly knots and I forget to finish them."

"Well, you can't give up," Gon paused thoughtfully, and lowered his voice, making it so Killua had to strain to hear, "And, it helps to be making it for someone you care about. That way, you don't want to mess up!"

Killua felt like the wind was knocked out of him, although he couldn't say why.

"The sun is going to be up soon! _Some_ of us are going to have to pick up the pace if we want to make it in time." called Kurapika from up front, shaking Killua out of his momentary daze.

As he took longer strides to catch up with Gon, Killua couldn't but help notice that while Gon's backpack was practically dripping with string, he wore on his wrist only one bracelet. Simpler than the rest, sloppy, slightly faded, and all green.


	3. North Star

"We're totally lost."

Killua was trying to keep his tone even, to sound impatient rather than anxious. But it was getting increasingly to difficult to keep his cool when Gon didn't at all aware of the looming inevitablity of their watery deaths. Killua put down his oar and cautiously turned to face him, trying not to make the situation any worse by tipping them over.

"Hm? No we're not."

Gon, of course, had no such worries, and was hanging over the side of the boat in a way that Killua couldn't imagine was safe. Not that he was especially up on his boat safety, or anything, aside from the talk they had been given by Razor, the guy in charge of the athletic stuff, at the beginning of this stupid outing. They had been given a map dotted with multi-colored stickers and each assigned a color to navigate towards. All they had to do was get there and bring back a cone that proved they had succeeded. Killua was certain that by himself, he could get his assigned color in no time, and probably collect all the other ones too. But he had been informed that not only were canoes a two-person deal, you couldn't even get bonus points for stealing other people's cones. There weren't any points at _all_. If you didn't find your cone nothing even happened, which made the whole excursion less than pointless. Mega super _ultra_ pointless. And now they were lost because he had to have a partner, and that partner was Gon, who insisted on navigating and had left their compass onshore.

"We're _lost_ and you're going to fall off the canoe and by the time they find my body I'll have already starved to death in the middle of this stupid fricking lake!"

Gon was completely unaffected by Killua's outburst, poking at a jellyfish with what Razor had referred to as the "blade" of the oar, though it didn't look like any blade Killua had ever seen.

"You could at least _pretend_ to be listening to me, jerk ass." Killua huffed, squinting with a hand cupped over his eyes as he scanned the horizon. No sign of any of the other campers. Great.

"I've been listening!" Gon protested, "This is an estuary, not a lake. And you curse a lot, Killua."

"I do not! All I said was- FUCK!" Killua was interrupted by a sharp blow to the head- a projectile? His fingers flew to the site of the attack, only to pull them away covered in- _slime_?

"What was THAT!" screeched Killua, wiping desperately at the sticky, disgusting _something_ that now coated the side of his head.

All of a sudden Gon wasn't so quiet, wheezing breathlessly with laughter, clutching his sides in what Killua judged to be a decidedly exaggerated fashion.

"It w-was just a, a- "Gon broke off again, doubled over in giggles.

Killua's stomach sunk, as he making an unhappy connection. No. It was too horrifying, too _gross_ …

"Do _not_ tell me… was that the jellyfish you were-"

Okay. It totally was not _that_ funny. Gon was such a… a-

"JERK!"

All concerns for the canoe's balance cast aside in the pursuit of justice, Killua came at Gon, retaliating with a chokehold. Without missing a beat, Gon turned his head, slipping out from Killua's grip and pinning one of his arms. With his other hand, Killua dug his nails into Gon's leg, causing Gon's grip to falter for just long enough for Killua to shake him off. But not hard enough, apparently, to get Gon to stop laughing for _one fricking second_.

"Would you shut up already! I could be dead! This is MY FACE!"

Gon climbed up from the bottom of the canoe back to his seat, covering his smile with both hands. If he was trying to look remorseful, it was so not working.

"Oh nooooo, Killua! I knew it wouldn't sting!"

Despite Gon's valiant attempt to compose himself, his shoulders still shook with the aftershock of giggles. Killua huffed, clamored back to his own seat, and looked away pointedly.

"Look," Gon entreated, touching his shoulder lightly, "these are all moon jellies. Harmless. I made suuuuuure."

Hmph. Well, _maybe_ Gon hadn't been trying to kill him and dispose of his body in the lake- or estuary, whatever. But it had still been totally gross. Not to mention, he was still pretty sure they were lost, no matter what Gon said. As if he hadn't done enough, Gon was now punching his arm. While it was presumably some baffling show of affection, it was certainly not helping him feel any better.

"Stop touching me with your gross jellyfish hands."

"I didn't touch it with my _hands_!" Gon protested, for some reason indignant.

"Oh, so it's too gross for your hands but not my fa- would you _stop_ leaning off the boat like that?"

Gon, of course, ignored him, reaching out with the oar like he had been before. But now, since he was paying attention, Killua could see he was balancing a jellyfish on the flat face of the blade. It was just a big, fat see-through blob thing. But Gon was looking at it like it was the coolest damn thing since- and then Gon looked up, staring at _him_ with those same wide-eyes. God, that kid was _weird_.

"Are you hungry?"

"I don't care how harmless it is, Gon. I am not eating a jellyfish."

Gon's shoulders were bouncing again, though he was taking care to keep his giggles under wraps. "Not what I meant, silly. There's some food in my bag, if you want."

"I'm not… not really hungry." Killua lied, the words sounding unnatural coming out of his mouth. Not that Gon should know that. They spent a fair amount of time together, being in the same group at all, but it had still only been a couple of days.

Gon raised an eyebrow. "What happened to being soooo worried about starving to death?"

"But we have to find the- "

"You asked Razor yourself, remember? We don't reaaaally have to do anything. We can pull in the canoe overrrr," Gon paused, looking around for a second before he found a spot, "there! To the right. There's a cool spot nearby, but you have to walk there. And we can eat while we walk."

Killua was dumbstruck. "You got us lost on purpose."

"I told you, we aren't lost. You should start rowing again, by the way."

"Okay, whatever," said Killua, plunging the oar back into the water, "but you took us to the wrong place on purpose. Why didn't you just tell me we were going somewhere else?"

Gon hummed thoughtfully. "Well, what if you had said no? I mean, it is pretty cool. Didn't wanna risk it."

Killua shook his head, hands stilling for a second. "You know you're really bossy, right?"

"But I'm gonna feed you, so I'm forgiven, right? Keep rowing."

Killua huffed indignantly, at the implication as well as the command.

"Depends," he said, slicing his oar back into the water, rough enough to make the boat go crooked, "on what food you got. Like, if it's something crappy like trail mix? I don't know if that could win me over."

The only response was the sound of Gon's oar, meeting the water in time with his own. Not an encouraging sign.

"Don't tell me you brought _trail mix_ ," Killua said, dragging out the word with disgust.

"There's nothing wrong with trail mix!" Gon said defensively.

"Maybe if it has chocolate in it or something. But other than that?" Here, Killua inserted an exaggerated retching noise. He considered it among the strongest in his repertoire of gross sounds, not that Gon seemed overly impressed.

"Protein is what you need for hikes," he said giggling, but matter-of-fact.

Killua made a noise of disbelief, but didn't protest any further, focusing instead on pulling in. He rowed in large strides, thinking they needed some momentum to plunge the boat onto land. They were silent all through the process of getting the canoe onto the little stretch of sand Gon had picked out, until Killua had a moment of clarity as they collapsed onto the earth.

"So you left the compass purposefully, too? Unless you've been holding out on me."

"Hmpf! Compasses are for amateurs. It's easy enough to tell direction from sun. See?" Gon pointed up at the sky, "It's almost setting, so it's all the way in the west."

Something about that was off, Killua was sure. That nervous feeling swelled into him again, making him feel as shaky even though they were back on solid ground. But Gon was right, right? If the sun was setting… _wait_.

"Do you even hear yourself? If the sun's setting, how do we get back?"

Gon's gaze didn't shift from the sky for a even a moment before answering, "The stars, Killua. North star. Not so hard."

From anyone else that would have sounded unbearably arrogant, but Gon wasn't… he wasn't really like other people. Everything he said was… well he knew all this stuff, but he said it all kind of with a shrug and a smile. Like he really wanted you to know, too. It should have been off-putting, but it somehow really wasn't.

"You're really…uh," Killua felt flushed, suddenly unsure of what he meant to say, "into this… hiking stuff, huh?" he finished lamely. "How do you even know where this place is, by the way?"

"Oh!" Gon said, sounding surprised, like he should already know, or something, "I'm from here. Around here."

"This island? I didn't think people really lived here."

"They don't, not really. It's a port, so there's trade and stuff. Lots of people make their living fishing, too. But the biggest thing is summer homes, daytrippers. Most stores aren't even open for the locals in the winter. Whole town comes to life for the summer. Stores, and stuff, like this camp. People have to make enough to last the rest of the year, so it's big business. At the end of the summer they have this whole carnival, you know, Ferris wheel, games, fireworks- they go pretty all out. The fireworks- that's my favorite part of the whole thing."

Gon paused for a second, still looking off. Killua felt a little embarrassed, the way he was staring at the silhouette Gon made against the sun, which had, in fact, begun to set. His voice had gone dreamy, and Killua felt on edge, like he was trespassing into something private. Until Gon turned, looked at him. Then, Killua stayed quiet, waited for Gon to pick up again.

"There's not enough kids for them to put in a school or anything. My aunt homeschools me. Eventually I figured out I could get out of doing boring stuff, like math, if I could convince Aunt Mito I was learning stuff outside on my own. I never get to show anyone, though."

"Me, too."

Gon cocked his head, questioning. Killua felt heat rising on his neck. He had kind of forgot he was speaking at all. Dumb.

"Homeschool, I mean. Me and all my siblings. So I get to see their annoying faces all day."

"But other kids! That sounds like so much fun!"

Killua's stomach tightened. He dug his fingers into the sand, trying to calm the warning signs going off like crazy in his head. This was so not something he wanted to talk about in any capacity. Not stuff he wanted to think about, now that he was here.

"Uh, I guess? Me and my sister get along. My older brothers… I don't know, my parents are just kind of…"

He trailed off, trying to look nonplussed, but it must not have worked. That, or Gon was getting uncomfortably close to knowing him, because he backpedaled right away.

"I mean, I guess I wouldn't know. Being an only child. But I know I like being here." Gon stood up, walking to the canoe to get his backpack. "And I'm glad I have someone to show stuff to now. You ready to go?"

He inhaled sharply, feeling a whole other kind of knot in his stomach.

"It's about to get dark, Gon. I think they're supposed to go looking for us if we're not back by sundown."

"We'll be quick! Besides," Gon grinned impishly, "they're getting paid for this, right? Might as well make 'em work for it."

Killua shook his head, following Gon as he darted between trees. He was glad, too. Glad he was the one that Gon wanted to show things to. And glad that he felt a little less lost.


	4. Rubber Band

"Can you just leave it alone? I can't talk right n- actually, forget that. I could talk, I just don't want to."

"Killua?"

It was Gon's voice, muffled by the door between them. Killua felt his neck get hot as he fumbled with his phone, slippery in his sweaty hand. Had Gon been able to hear him this whole time?

"Gimme just one sec, Go- no, not you. No. I don't have to- like all things in my life, this is none of your- don't you even, Illumi. Don't use her as fucking leverage with me. Why do I even have to- Yes, _her_ , you colossal assh- no. What's wrong with you, honestly? Just… uh huh. Yeah, you do that. I have better things to do. Stop calling me."

With an overly forceful click of the decline button, Killua threw his cell phone over his shoulder. Stop. _Breathe_ , he told himself sternly, _You can make yourself breathe. You can't do anything about your batshit insane family, but you can inhale and exhale and not freak out your best friend by doing dumb shit like throwing phones._

"Oh good, you're off the- hey, are you okay?"

Killua tried to make his expression neutral- tried and failed, if Gon's tone was any indication. Aloofness was a default for him, but he tended to trip up around Gon. Which didn't bode well.

"Yeah," Killua choked out, "Yeah. Just a thing."

Gon's eyes were still wide and wary, but he left a laugh creep into his voice as he said, "Yeah? Well as long as your _thing's_ over… "

Relief should have been washing over him, but Killua was a little unnerved at how quickly Gon dropped the subject. Which was completely stupid. It wasn't like he wanted people digging into his personal business. And it wasn't like they actually cared, anyway. They'd ask the questions that they felt they should, try and act like the good guy. Not that anyone could really understand, even if they were trying, for real. Which they weren't. And, fuck, he had totally been zoning out. Somehow Gon was done talking, already looking at him expectantly.

"Hellooooooo, Killua?"

"Yeah? I mean, yeah, that's cool."

"Wow, I really underestimated you, Killua," said Gon with a raised eyebrow, "I told Kurapika no _way_ would you ever volunteer to run charades."

Fuck and a half. This is what he got for tuning out Gon. Killua would be stuck supervising fucking charades. Which- oh my god-

"Isn't Palm the one who runs the charades thing?" Killua asked with calculated indifference, "With what's his name? Zepile?"

"Mhm, Yeah. But this morning him and Leorio both got super sick. Like, I heard Zepile was on the top bunk and projectile vomited and it got all over the floor and the Leorio _stepped_ in-"

Killua tried to hide his revulsion, but a shudder gave him away. Gon chuckled.

"Just making sure you were paying attention." Gon said, smirking, "So _anyway_ , Leorio asked Kurapika to do it, but I think Kurapika's against helping Leorio on principle. He's totally desperate for someone to fill in, which no one wants to do, especially since we're all supposed to be _training our teams for Color War._ "

Ah. He should've realized this would be about Color War, he thought, rolling his eyes. Gon had a mean competitive streak. Not that Killua was much better, usually. But still.

Gon pushed on, stretching his legs as he spoke, a habit that always made Killua feel embarrassed, like he should be looking away. His neck was getting red now, which was just great and he was already dreading having to interact with Palm and _shit_ he had never found his cell phone, had he?

"It's also not helpful that Leorio keeps, you know, throwing up on people," Gon said, grinning too much for a guy talking about puke. "So he'd be pretty screwed if you hadn't stepped up to the plate like this. I guess that's what I'll tell the kids when they're asking for you. That you're taking one for the team- not our _Color War team_ , but still. And you know, it's really big of you to put aside your weird thing about Palm. Noble, even."

"Well, you know me-" Killua drawled, stalling for time, suddenly realizing his phone was way under his bed- and phoneless, he had no chance of escaping charades without lapsing into a complete boredom-coma. "I do it for the- " Hm. Maybe Gon wouldn't notice if he just reached under and… "SHIT!"

His arm was stuck, because of course it was.

"Need help, Killua?" Gon said cloyingly.

"What? No! I, uh… meant to- I mean I'm almost- I just-"

"So, should I text Kurapika, let him know he's off charades duty? Or are you going to admit that you weren't listening to me?"

Killua looked up at him plaintively, still stuck, arm twisted.

"Please don't make me charade."

Gon smiled. "Meet me at the baseball diamond for practice in ten, 'kay? I've gotta, uh, get something from Leorio." Punctuating his sentence with a clap, Gon didn't wait for a response before turning and jogging out the door.

Killua let out a sight of relief, free from the looming specter of charades.

An annoyingly short amount of time after Gon left, Killua emerged victorious, phone in hand. Stretching his newly freed limb, Killua wondered idly what Gon could have possibly needed from Leorio, who was allegedly vomiting all over the place. Part of him thought maybe Gon had picked up on his foul mood, figured he could use the ten minutes by himself before interacting with kids. Killua grimaced, only in part because of the soreness of his muscles as he stood. If that were really the case, he wasn't sure he liked it. It was easier when no one knew how he felt. Gave him some semblance of control. But… whatever. He had to get himself down to the baseball diamond or face the wrath of Gon.

"This is bad. This is really, really bad."

"Hello to you too, Gon," he said wryly. Maybe also a little out of breath. But just a little.

Gon stood motionless, clutching a bulbous bag filled to the brim with red rubber balls and staring at the sky like a man with a vendetta. Surrounding him was their pack of campers, buzzing around them like especially hyperactive flies.

"The rain. Killua, please. Haven't you noticed the rain?!"

"Gon," Killua sighed, "I ran here. You _saw_ me run here. You know, outside? Where the rain is?"

Gon didn't deign to answer that, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes at the clouds. The week before Color War was serious business, if you took Gon's word for it. Well, him and all the other counselors, actually. They spoke of the event in the reverential, hushed tones that Killua reserved for- well, shit, Killua didn't talk about anything like that.

"We're not going to be able to _train_." Gon finally said, as if Killua hadn't come to that conclusion the second he stepped outside.

Killua deliberately restrained himself from rolling his eyes. What Gon referred to as "training" was really just a bunch of kids running around. If they were lucky, the kids might actually follow the rules. What was Gon envisioning? Elaborate strategizing sessions? Were there even any strategies in kickball? If so, it's not like he and Gon knew them.

"Gon, get it together. Its just kickball."

"But! But!" Gon clutched Killua's arm in a display of dramatic which, frankly, Killua thought was a little uncalled for. "We need to wiiiiiiin! This is the perfect team! If we lose just because they didn't get enough practice- I don't think I could take it, Killua."

"They're like, what? Eleven years old? They'll get over it."

"But will _I_ get over it, Killua? Will you? Could you recover from the shame of coaching a losing team?" Gon asked, tearing his eyes away from the rain to look at Killua with puppy-dog eyes.

"Actually, yeah, I think I- ow!"

The kids were getting rowdy, Killua noted with mounting terror as he touched his exposed neck, raw pink from a rubber band slingshot assault. Children, he was learning, were monsters. But they were monsters that he needed to keep occupied.

"Gon, mope on your own time. We need to get them under con- QUIT IT, YOU GUYS!"

"But this is all we were supposed to be doing! Dinner won't even be ready for another hour!" Gon threw up his hands, looking accusingly at the rain, completely unaware of the rubber bands flying past him.

Killua swallowed.

"There is _one_ thing we could do…" he started, hoping Gon would catch on and spare him the indignity of such a suggestion.

Gon grinned, which was never a good sign. "You don't mean- "

Gon's words were cut short as he dodged another rubber band, whizzing right over his shoulder. In a stunning display of reflexes, Killua caught it in his fist. Nearby campers gasped. With a withering glare for the benefit of his audience, Killua opened his palm, letting the rubber band fall into the mud.

Killua nodded grimly. "Charades. It's our only option."

Gon looked at him solemnly, loosening his grip on the bag. "You're a brave soul."

He sighed, grinding the rubber band into the ground with his heel. "I do it for the kids."


End file.
